But wait! There’s more!

If you’re a member of our iOS Developer Nanodegree mailing list, you may remember a survey we sent asking for your help in designing courses. In that survey, we asked what questions you had about Swift, Apple’s new programming language. In the weeks leading up to course launch, we’ll be answering the top 10 questions YOU asked in the the survey.

1. Why is the language called Swift?

The answer is obvious, isn’t it? Chris Lattner is a huge Taylor Swift fan. Sorry, but the obvious joke had to be made. Haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate hate…

In all seriousness, the language was designed with two goals in mind: to be (1) swift to code, and (2) swift to execute. In terms of speed, Swift uses the LLVM compiler, and compiles Swift code to optimized native code depending on target device. In terms of learning curve, the Swift syntax was designed to be clean and easy to read.

2. Should I learn Swift or Objective-C?

Actually, we technically already answered this in a blog post back in September, but the answer remains the same – learn Swift! Apple has made it clear that Swift is the cornerstone of the future of iOS development. Plus, you can still utilize Objective-C files alongside Swift code, so you won’t miss out on any pre-existing libraries and code.

Jessica Uelmen

Herder of Cats at Udacity, interested in all things nerdy. If she's not working to build fun and engaging online learning experiences, she's out traveling the world, chowing down on sushi, or stitching circuits into clothing.